The Death of Socrates, Kent Lydecker, lecturer May 13, 2008

Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Kent Lydecker, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Associate Director for Education

Jacques Louis David’s The Death of Socrates set a new direction for painting in late-eighteenth-century France. Its style, subject, and associations mark it as one of history’s great canonical masterworks. The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1787—before the revolutionary events of 1789—but its profound meaning spoke so eloquently to the subject of liberty and personal responsibility that it was shown again at the Salon of 1791 and engraved for wider dissemination. This lecture explores how David’s art captured a moment and how it continues to resonate in the experience of visitors to the Metropolitan Museum’s galleries.

Official Website: http://www.metmuseum.org/tickets